A stunning about-face in bank shares handed the stock market its best week since November.

Fears have eased that the nation’s major financial institutions would collapse or at least require additional government lifelines in order to stay alive. Market veterans were quick to rein in hopes that the market would chart an uninterrupted recovery but many still saw the four straight days of gains a good sign.

According to preliminary calculations, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 53.92, or 0.8 percent, to 7,223.98.

More than 2 stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume came to 1.61 billion shares.

The turnaround began Tuesday as the head of Citigroup Inc. said the bank had managed to turn a profit in the first two months of the year. That helped lift the cloud of worry that has cloaked financial stocks since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September.

Traders who last week pounded Citi shares to be low $1 began buying the stock again. The gains in the beaten-down industry were enormous: Citi surged 73 percent for the week, Bank of America Corp. jumped 83 percent and Wells Fargo & Co. rose 62 percent.